Handwriting on the wall: Arctic warming twice as much as anticipated, USA to suffer consequences

People lie, numbers don't. The numbers are revealing an alarming trend in the Arctic. While global temperature increases have moderated across the globe (they are still rising, just slower) the Arctic continues to trap more heat which is melting ice and impacting weather around the Northern Hemisphere.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - As a writer for Catholic Online and a faithful Catholic, I am often assailed by my fellow Catholics who accuse me of lying, of failing to grasp science, and of all sorts of personal things which are untrue, and occasionally amusing. However, it's troubling. Although I tend to be a conservative in my personal views, I am Catholic before anything else and therefore, social issues compel me to write.

Global warming is one of those issues. The traditional American conservative narrative is that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by the Left to impose their worldview and control on civilization. I can certainly see that, but I don't think there's much danger of that if the phenomenon is in fact, a hoax. Ultimately, people will not lie down and allow their rights to be taken away unless they themselves perceive great personal danger. Global warming for most Americans does not equate to any significant danger whatsoever, so if this is the Left's grand strategy, it is a poor one.

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To me, the greatest danger is if global warming is real and we are ignoring it, accelerating it. At some point, an indisputable event will occur, such as the melting of the Arctic ice cap in the summer. When that happens, the danger of global warming will be undeniable. Reichstag fire in place, the Left will undoubtedly go into overdrive and we will not like the resulting impact on our lives.

Population control via forced abortions and sterilizations, rationing, astronomical taxes, and a massive loss of personal and religious freedom will be inevitable and nearly impossible to resist without risking one's life.

The only way we can avoid this future is to pay attention to reality, and make decisions that are truly conservative and above all, Catholic. We won't be saved by a political worldview. Only a Catholic worldview, which includes a Catholic way of being "green," will save humanity from nature and from itself.

So what is the reality to which we need to pay attention?

The reality is the north polar ice cap is heating up at an alarming rate. According to NOAA, temperatures above the 60th parallel continue to increase at twice the rate as the rest of the planet. The past five years have all set records as the hottest years in recorded history for the region. Researchers have attributed these rises to global warming itself, and not to natural variability.

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Research was conducted by both NOAA and the Office of Naval Research. The past 30 years provide the unmistakable trend. The region has steadily warmed and ice has declined. Yes, there have been some good years where ice mostly returned, but the trend is clear. The north polar ice cap is shrinking with irreversible impacts on what little flora and fauna live there.

More importantly, what happens at the North Pole doesn't stay there.

A warming Arctic has led to a weakening of the jet stream, a current of circumpolar air which serves to trap the mostly frigid temperatures over the pole. The weakened jet stream has resulted in more meandering and dips, which we experience as "polar vortexes." The Eastern USA, thanks to geography, is particularly susceptible to these phenomenon. While the rest of the world heats up, the Eastern half of the USA tends to freeze out.

What's happening up north is just one manifestation of a global phenomenon. The unfortunate part is that climate scientists know that the planet is warming, but they don't know precisely why or even how. They know that global warming gasses, such as CO2 and methane are driving much of the warming, and they know we are pumping much more of these emissions into the atmosphere than nature can handle.

They're also moistening the planet, causing water vapor, which is a superb conductor of heat, to transfer warmth around the globe. Warm ocean currents are also thought to be contributing to melting ice caps on both poles.

Unfortunately, their models are still imprecise so all they can tease out of the data are trends, not specific predictions. New discoveries lead to new inputs all the time, and these inputs tweak the models. But the overall conclusion is unmistakable. The planet is warming and we're responsible. The clock is ticking, and while we're not certain how fast, we know it's faster than we'd like and faster than nature can adapt.

For example, all these conditions are contributing to other bizarre phenomena. In many regions, plankton is now blooming twice per-year, instead of the usual once. Tundra is greening. Growing seasons are lengthening, but these are offset by persistent droughts and changes elsewhere. The net result is a predicted decrease, not an increase, in global food production. Polar bear populations are falling. The bear population is considered to be a bellwether of changes in the region.

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We are beyond the age of predictions. The predictions have started to come true before our very eyes, yet many people remain in denial, and this denial is often rooted in their self-identity, often as political conservatives.  But nature doesn't care about your politics or your religious beliefs.

It is time for us to ask a new question. If Marshall Connolly is right, and global warming begins to perpetrate political changes which infringe on my personal, religious, and political freedoms, then how will I react? How can I best prevent these changes from happening?

I suggest a Catholic way of being green, a truly conservative approach which includes actual conservation. It's the safest bet in a high-risk situation.

It's worth the time to consider, because the handwriting is on the wall.

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